Folding paired legs



June 23, 1959 H. J.- GREENWALD FOLDING PAJIZRED LEGS Filed Sept. 24. 1958 INVENTOR- HOWAR D J i en-z u mu,

hr 1 p United States Patent FOLDING PAIRED LEGS Howard J. Greenwald, Union, NJ.

Application September 24, 1958, Serial No. 763,025

6 Claims. (Cl. 311-89) My invention relates generally to folding legs and specifically to folding legs which may be used to support a table, other articles of furniture, beds and many other similar structures.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide folding legs which collapse into a small confined space.

It is another object of my invention to provide folding legs which when pulled apart, maintain themselves open and provide a sturdy foundation for a table or other article.

Another object of my invention is to provide folding legs which are free from any tendency to collapse regardless of the normal weight which they bear, but will readily fold into a compact interlacing mass of braces, links and legs.

Among the further objects of my invention is to provide folding legs which are relatively durable, inexpensive, strong, of many uses and applications, and easy to maintain.

These objects and advantages, as well as other objects and advantages, may be obtained by the folding leg structure shown in the figure in which the solid lines show by way of illustration, folding legs extended and attached to a foldable table structure, and the dotted lines show the foldable table partially folded and the legs partially folded, ultimately to be enclosed between the top and bottom of the table. H H p There arein existence and well known, numerous folding leg structures which are used in connection with folding; tables and similar articles of furniture. Many of these structures are unstableby reason of the instability of the' folding legs. Many of these structures, are bulky by reason'of the fact that the legs do not fold in a compact manner. Many of these structures are difficult to fold and unfold by reason of the fact that some of the links may pivot beyond their normal intended position and in such position resist the tendency of the forces applied to the folding legs to fold the legs into a compact mass. Many of these folding leg structures are unstable by reason of the absence of braces which cannot readily be applied to strengthen and reinforce the stability of the table because they would interfere with the compact folding of the folding legs. My construction enables the use of braces and cooperative links which, in cooperation with the legs provide a very sturdy and wobble-proof structure, yet nevertheless permit the folding legs and the braces and links to collapse into an intimate relationship beside the skirt of the table, with all of the parts lying generally in the same plane.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, I have illustrated one application of my folding legs for use in conjunction with a table, such as a ping pong table 11, such a table may be conveniently formed in equal halves 12, 13. The halves 12, 13 are connected together by a hinge 14 with the pivot or hinge point 15 about which the halves 12, 13 fold, located on an offset portion of the hinge at the bottom thereof. This enables the halves 12, 13 to lie in abutment with each other when the table 11 is folded in half. It is to be understood that while I will refer to and illustrate my invention in connection with a table 11, that my folding legs can be applied with equal utility to numerous other devices. The hinge may be provided with a latch 16 which will engage a pin 17 to maintain the table in open condition against folding.

The support for the table is in the form of folding legs 18, 18. On the opposite side of the table there may be corresponding pairs of legs and these corresponding pairs of legs may be interconnected at their lower ends 19, 19 by cross-members 20, 20. In this manner, by

interconnection the legs 18, 18 on one side of a table' may be interconnected with and formed integrally with the legs on the other side of a table and will be made to fold in unison. The legs 18, 18 are pivotally connected to the table 11 at their top end 21, by a bolt 22, 22. Also pivoting on each of the bolts 22 is a spreader link 23. This spreader link serves to position the spreaders 24, 24. These spreaders are links which are pivotally connected together at one end by the bolt or pin 25. At approximately their center, the bolt 26 connects the spreader link 23 to the spreader 24. At the opposite end 27, a bolt 28 connects the spreader 24 pivotally to a brace 29 and to a link 30. The brace in turn is connected by a bolt 31 to the table 11. The link in turn is likewise connected at its opposite end by a bolt or pin 32 to the leg 18.

When the table or other article is in the position shown in the solid lined figure and the halves of the table 1 1 are pivotally moved on the hinge 14 toward each other, the spreader links 23, 23 will serve to jackknife the spreaders 24, 24 on the pin 25, as is shown in the dotted line figure. The brace 29 and the link 30 will pivot outwardly in the direction of the end of the table 11, as will appear from the dotted line figure. When the opposite halves of the table 11 meet completely together the folding legs will be completely enclosed therein and nested with each other in a compact space. It is to be noted that both the legs 18, 18, the braces 29, 29, and the spreader links 23, 23 are all attached to the table 11 on the inside of a skirt 33 which extends downwardly from the top 34 of the table. It is also to be noted that when the table 11 is open to the position shown in the solid line figure, the lower end of the braces 29, 29 engages the side wall of the corresponding leg 18, 18 and is held in that detaining position by the respective spreaders 24, 24 so that further outward movement of the legs is impossible and the end of the brace 29 engages the leg 18 against further outward movement. Thus, without the difiiculties of a brace pivotally attached to the leg 18, the brace 29, which is not pivotally attached to the leg 18, nevertheless engages the leg 18 against further outward movement and supplies a staunch reinforcement to the leg 18.

The application of my folding leg structure to many different articles of furniture or objects requiring support can readily be seen. It is to be noted that the brace 29 and the spreader link 23 at all times during folding and unfolding maintain themselves in parallel relationship to each other. It is to be further noted that a special hinge such as the hinge 14 is highly desirous so that the skirts 33 may, at the conclusion of the hinging operation, be engaged with each other and form an enclosure for the folding legs structure.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the Patented June 23,- 1959 scope of the appended claims, although they are not specifically catalogued herein.

I claim:

1. Folding legs comprising a pair of legs normally disposed in a substantially vertical position and diverging in a generally outward and downward direction from each other, a pair of spreader links pivotally attached at the top end to the top of each leg, a pair of links pivotally attached adjacent to the bottom of each leg, a pair of braces pivotally attached at the bottom to the top of each link, a pair of spreaders pivotally attached together at one end, and each pivotally attached at the other end to the pivotal connection between the brace and the link, and the bottom end of each spreader link pivotally attached to the corresponding spreader.

2. Folding legs comprising a pair or legs normally disposed in a substantially vertical position and diverging in a generally outward and downward direction from each other, a pair of spreader links pivotally attached at the top end to the top of each leg, a pair of links pivotally attached adjacent to the bottom of each leg, a pair of braces pivotally attached at the bottom to the top of each link, and the braces each in abutment with the legs as normally disposed, a pair of spreaders pivotally attached together at one end, and each pivotally attached at the other end to the pivotal connection between the brace and the link, and the bottom end of each spreader link pivotally attached to the corresponding spreader.

3. Folding legs comprising a pair of legs normally disposed in a substantially vertical position and diverging in a generally outward and downward direction from each other, a pair of spreader links pivotally attached at the top end to the top of each leg, a pair of links pivotally attached adjacent to the bottom of each leg, a pair of braces pivotally attached at the bottom to the top of each link, and each brace in parallelism with a corresponding spreader link when the legs are disposed in normal position, a pair of spreaders pivotally attached together at one end, and each pivotally attached at the other end to the pivotal connection between the brace and the link, and the bottom end of each spreader link pivotally attached to the corresponding spreader.

4. Folding legs comprising a pair of legs normally disposed in a substantially vertical position and diverging in a generally outward and downward direction from each other, a pair of spreader links pivotally attached at the top end to the top of each leg, a pair of links pivotally attached adjacent to the bottom of each leg, a pair of braces pivotally attached at the bottom to the top of each link, a pair of spreaders pivotally attached together at one end, and each pivotally attached at the other end to the pivotal connection between the brace and the link, and the bottom end of each spreader link pivotally attached to the corresponding spreader, a pair of flat members defining a table top, said table top pivotally secured together, and to the top of each leg.

5. Folding legs comprising a pair of legs normally disposed in a substantially vertical position and diverging in a generally outward and downward direction from each other, a pair of spreader links pivotally attached at the top end to the top of each leg, a pair of links pivotally attached adjacent to the bottom of each leg, a pair of braces pivotally attached at the bottom to the top of each link, a pair of spreaders pivotally attached together at one end, and each pivotally attached at the other end to the pivotal connection between the brace and the link,.

and the bottom end of each spreader link pivotally attached to the corresponding spreader, a pair of flat members defining a table top, said table top pivotally secured together, and to the top of each leg, the top of each brace, and the top of each spreader link pivotally secured to the table top.

6. Folding legs comprising a pair of legs normally disposed in a substantially vertical position and diverging in a generally outward and downward direction from each other, a pair of spreader links pivotally attached at the top end to the top of each leg, a pair of links pivotally attached adjacent to the bottom of each leg, a pair of braces pivotally attached at the bottom to the top of each link, a pair of spreaders pivotally attached together at one end, and each pivotally attached at the other end to the pivotal connection between the brace and the link, and the bottom end of each spreader link pivotally attached to the corresponding spreader; and each member of each pair of the legs, spreader links, and braces pivotable to lie in the same general plane as the corresponding leg when the legs have pivoted from normal position to a folded position in which they lie in general parallelism with each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,115,731 Owens Nov. 3, 1914 2,257,522 Bailey Sept. 30, 1941 2,462,677 Roberts Feb. 22, 1949 2,607,647 Howe Aug. 19, 1952 2,764,460 Nelson Sept. 25, 1956 2,799,544 Hoppe July 16, 1957 

